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I'll explain for all those who are asking. I was able to take things with me, I live in my car. I kept my laptop and Austin has a city wide area network setup that provides wifi in certain parts of the city. The reason I was on Reddit was to check up on a thread I made asking for work.

Not everything is shit though, I found a job... its just that I don't start for a while.

Whenever I see this, this always confuses me, not meaning to sound rude or anything.. but when you say you're homeless how are you on the internet? Like do you mean homeless as in staying temporarily with friends or like homeless a bum on the street sleeping under an overhang?

Romney: libraries are free? What kind of socialist thought of that? We should charge $4,000 a year so that people can access 'free' books and Internet. That way we can make up for the 'spending cut' I have planned.

When I spent time homeless I had an old droid phone. All I had to do was connect to wifi. Outside where I slept at night I was able to connect and browse while laying in my sleeping bag. It's almost 2013.

I was technically homeless for some time when I was 17. Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you don't have friends whose internet you could use (many homeless people couch surf). As others have pointed out they could also use a library or have a laptop/phone.

It kind of bothers me how all these privileged people on reddit harass anyone anytime they say they're homeless or poor by saying "THEN HOW ARE YOU ON THE INTERNET?!?!?" (seriously, I see this every time someone mentions they're impoverished/homeless). As though if you're truly poor you should have no leisure pursuit or would have no way to make use of such insanely expensive, rare technology.

I know you're not doing that --you're being genuinely inquisitive instead of accusatory, but when people jump all over an impoverished person like that (seemingly seeking to blame them or point out they're a fraud to confirm their own "just world" bias) it shows an especially disgusting combination of ignorance and arrogance.

I think the bigger problem with this premise is 4 years ago, and since Obama took office are 2 different things. Also, I am actually better off than I was 4 years ago. But that's because of my hard work, nothing to do with the government.

The premise is completely faulty, and it's rooted in self-centered thinking. The question shouldn't be "Are you better off," it should be phrased "Are we better off." The former suggests that it's the president's job to improve every single citizen's life, whereas the latter correctly reflects that his job is to improve the overall well-being of the country as a whole.

It's a stupid, misleading, asinine question. But what do you expect from well-established propagandists?

I vote yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes. and yes.

That seems like a pretty big change in 16 minutes given that hundreds of thousands of people have already voted...

Edit: 6:35 EST 21%.

Edit 2: 7:40 EST 30.5%

I still maintain that a 1% increase about every 5 minutes is moving pretty quickly when you look at the number of people who had already voted. Plus, all redditors are not going to vote 'yes'. Just saying...

I had to check and re-check to confirm that it was not a satirical copy of fox but actual fox.

http://i.imgur.com/33uSE.png?1 --screengrab of the actual recommended stories and links on fox news. it reads like a nursing home bulletin board...."ten signs you are acting Old" and "what coffee can do to your bladder"

Well first of all the Poll is stupid. Many people lost a lot, but under another president the same would have happend. So if everyone votes truthfully there has to be a large percentage of No because statistically the US is worse then four years ago.
Secondly it is FOX. So everyone who watches FOX and belives what they say will definitely vote No.
Then there are the few people who got better in the last four years and people who understand why FOX wants this poll. These few would be a very small percentage of the voters (keep in mind that the people who visit the FOX news website and vote are more likely to like the FOX program then not)

Im making well into 6 figures for the first time in my life this year so I voted yes. And you know what, I pay a lot in taxes, but I'm totally in favor of raising taxes on higher incomes as long as everyone in my bracket pays under the same rules. All my base necessities are easily paid for and I can't imagine being so selfish as to worry about another few percent of income while so many are struggling to pay for health care, education, and mortgages.

I'm right there with you. I was on my way to being homeless 3-4 years ago, now I'm making 6 figures - and taxes don't bother me a bit. I'd gladly pay more if it means more people will have the same opportunity.

Well, I had the ball rolling before I knew about reddit - but I definitely used reddit as a resource for various things from technical knowledge to resume/interview tips. I give reddit a lot of credit for helping me along.

Not much of a story, really. Disabled vet, my old military job had no real civilian counterpart (hooray for 1950's technology), so I was stuck with shitty dead end jobs. Ended up living in a shitty trailer in the middle of bumfuck mississippi, 30 miles from any decent job. All I had to my name was an old computer, a shitty motorcycle and some clothes. I eventually moved to Oklahoma with my sister and was able to take advantage of a VA program to retrain disabled vets.

The VA paid for me to college, where I got a degree in computer networking - worked my ass off and got good grades, eventually landed a job at Dell as a network engie. I've been there for about 1.5 years now, and I love it.

I don't feel like my story is all that impressive because I had some advantages that many people do not. That's why I wouldn't mind paying a bit more in taxes in order to extend those advantages to everyone... you know, without getting their bodies crushed and broken in the middle of godawful arabian deserts. I'm not a combat vet or anything, so I don't want to give the impression that I've lost limbs in firefights - I really just had an unlucky fall that crushed both of my knees pretty bad.

This is precisely my view as well. I live a pretty darned good life and I don't mind paying taxes to support the system that makes that possible. Do I agree with how every dollar of my tax money is spent? HELL NO! But that's the nature of democracy. None of us gets everything our own way. Instead we negotiate and compromise to arrive at a middle ground that lets us all live a decent life.

Same here; 4 years ago, I didn't have a job, felt like I was completely worthless, and was a pretty miserable speck of humanity. Now? Job, awards, good grades, and good company to be enjoyed. It's extremely difficult for me to think otherwise.

Same here. In the past 3 years I've gotten a job with benefits that also gives out OT like candy and this month I start my 3rd year back in college thanks to government grants. I am better off than I was 4 years ago.

I voted "yes" even though that's not technically accurate. I was better off four years ago. But I'm better off now than I was three, two, and one year ago. I worked in the entertainment industry and the effects of the economic meltdown took longer to reach us. Make no bones about it, it was Bush's policies, not Obama's, that led to a severe slowdown in the industry.

Ehhh, with their bias and their already 316k votes it will be hard to get a majority. For enough people to see this on reddit (and see, not even vote), this has to sit on the front page for about 4 hours. Thanks for posting though, as I voted :)

EDIT: She's on her way to the front page. I hope I am proven wrong.
EDIT 2: Front page :)...let's get 'er done!

I remember seeing an article about how in NC where there were thousands of registered Republicans to vote, and they were all dead. If they hadn't looked into the matter, it could have been potential voter fraud to the max.

Even if the majority of the poll ends up saying yes, they would just spin it when presenting on-screen (assuming they would). "We ran an online poll on our website and over 250,000 people stated they weren't better off. How can they not see this is the President's fault?"

You know whenever everyone does this, you take what would otherwise be a meaningless poll on their website and hand them a boatload more page views which bring them ad revenue. This post directly supports fox news.

We are worse off. Bc of the weather. Damn droughts! And shitty insurance company trying to screw us over. And the fact that my husband had a mid life crisis and decided to be a first generation farmer.

What about if financially I'm the same, but emotionally and mentally I'm a lot better. I'm more mature, more at peace with who I am. I am a better person, I have good friends, I have less toxic people, etc.

I know the government had zero cause for this. But to answer their question, then yes, my life IS better than it was 4 years ago.

wages have gone down relative to inflation; savings rates virtually zero, while the Fed's inflation eats away at savers and fixed incomes; nearly 1/3 of home loans underwater; college loan bubble forcing grads to emerge with no jobs and the equivalent of mortgage to pay; 47 million on food stamps. misery index is through the roof:

I never understand this line of thinking from Republicans. Shouldn't a Republican's answer to this question be that it isn't government that is going to make me better off but my personal initiative would be why I am better off. It goes against all their propaganda to say that government would make me better or worse off.

My answer to this question is regardless of whether I am better off or not (I am) its whether or not the Country is better off than they were 4 years ago, the answer to that is an obvious yes, even with all the obstructionism America is still incredibly better off than it was 4 years ago!